


Adrenaline is a Funny Thing

by bracus09



Series: ABC SEAL Team Whump [1]
Category: SEAL Team (TV)
Genre: Adrenaline, Gen, Injury, Mind Games, Whump
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-24
Updated: 2020-01-29
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:46:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22381297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bracus09/pseuds/bracus09
Summary: When the situation calls, adrenaline can over come anything.
Series: ABC SEAL Team Whump [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1611082
Comments: 29
Kudos: 154





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for Lauren2381! Without her this series probably wouldn't have even been thought of.
> 
> This is A for Adrenaline.
> 
> Enjoy!

“Screwdriver” demanded Clay, reaching a hand out behind him from under his Nova’s hood.

Trent, busy looking at his phone and beer in hand, frowned over at his younger brother. His attitude had been grating on him since they had come over to Ray’s place for a small get together. Uncharacteristically, he was finding himself losing patience with the younger man.

“Come on, come on!” Clay snapped his fingers expectantly.

Sighing, Trent got up, put his phone in his pocket, grabbed the screwdriver from the tool box sitting on the ground and slapped it into Clay’s hand.

“’Bout time,” the curly-haired blond griped as he continued tinkering with his engine in Ray’s driveway.

Trent looked at Clay in disbelief. Sometimes, his brother was just too much. Worse than even Jameelah. Most times he could laugh it off, but sometimes, well sometimes, it just down right bugged him. And today was one of those days.

“You could say thanks occasionally, you know.” Trent tried.

“Huh?” Clay looked out from under the hood.

“You remember what thank you means, don’t you?” asked Trent, sarcastically.

Clay snorted, “What’s bugging you?”

“You.” Trent wasn’t smiling, “You’re bugging me.”

“What? ‘Cause I didn’t say please and thank you?” Clay gave a dismissive laugh as he rapped the screwdriver against the engine. “And you call me childish!” He didn’t see the look that crossed Trent’s face.

“Guys, guys, guys,” smirked Sonny, as he strolled into Ray’s garage, munching on a hotdog. “The way you baby that car, I’m surprised you let anyone touch it.”

Clay answered him from under the hood, “I need to keep my car in tip top shape. Right, Trent?”

“Well, I don’t know about that,” Trent answered in a deliberate voice. “I’m not the one, Clay, who’s under the hood looking for a noise that only exists in your head.”

“Huh?!” muttered Clay.

Sonny’s ears perked suddenly as he looked at his two brothers. Usually, Trent would be quick to defend any of his brothers. This looked like a perfect opportunity to bug Clay without having to getting into too much trouble. “Yeah, Clay, I have never heard of anyone that has ridden with you in that car complain about the stuff you’re always feeling or hearing. I’m sort of worried your tinkering’s going to cause you to crash!”

“What?” Clay sputtered, pulling up too quickly and banging his head on the edge of the hood. “OWW!!!” He put a hand to his head, grimacing as he danced away from his car.

Trent went into immediate medic mode. “Stay still. Let me see.”

“Damn!” Clay held his head gingerly. He checked his hand to see if there was blood on it. Nothing. He put his hand to his head again, sure that there must be a gash somewhere.

“Come on,” Trent forced his brother to stand still so he could have a look. Clay winced, trying to pull away. Trent followed his movement while he looked him over. There didn’t seem to be any major damage.

Sonny, seeing that it wasn’t too serious, asked Trent with a smirk, “Want me to grab your kit? And I don’t mind getting the saw in case you need to amputate, you know, like right about here…” he brought a hand across his neck.

Trent started laughing, which didn’t make Clay feel any better. “Thanks a lot, Trent!”

Trent shrugged as he finished checking Clay’s scalp. “You’re fine. There’s not even a scratch.”

Clay brought his hand back up to his head. “You sure? It really hurts.”

“You’ll live, Clay,” deadpanned Trent as he finished his beer and threw away the can. Clay has been on Bravo long enough that Trent knew that his brother is one of the most fearless people he knew, willing to risk everything for another but come to things like paper cuts, bumps and bruises… He was worse than Ray’s kids. He suddenly smiled. Well, if his friend was going to act like a kid…

“Oh thanks,” said Clay sarcastically. He rubbed his head. “Man, it still hurts.”

“So? Ignore it,” said Trent as he calmly shut the tool box lid.

“Poster Boy, don’t be such a baby,” chimed Sonny. “You’re a disgrace to DEVGRU.”

“Oh, shut up, Sonny!” Clay flashed him a look and another at Trent, for not stepping in to defend him. “Thanks a lot for the sympathy, guys.” With a last withering look at the two SEALS, he headed for the kitchen to look for an ice pack, grumbling about loyalty and lack of compassion.

Trent looked at Sonny as he closed the car’s hood. He couldn’t help it. He started to laugh. Sonny joined in. Behind them, Clay slammed the garage door.

***

Everyone was on the C-17, flying to Bangalore, India. They got the summons while wrapping up the BBQ at Ray’s, and all carpooled to the base, only to immediately get on the plane with no idea where they were going.

They gathered around the make-shift table, and then Blackburn started delivering information. Bangalore has had a huge technology boom within the last several years. An American technology company, CyberSpy, had ‘loaned’ one of their top security analysists to an up and coming Indian Software Security Firm to help with their infrastructure and mainframe for their own cyber security. Anna Snyder was in month two of her four month stay with her daughter Susanna (Suzie) in Bangalore. Anna, being a single mother, had brought her four-year-old daughter to Bangalore so that she could both do her job and take care of her child. While in the market getting groceries on a Sunday, she and her daughter were abducted by a group that wants to be able to hack in to main frames of companies and hold their companies for random.

“Okay? So why isn’t the Indian Special Forces completing this op?” Jason asked, curious to the answer.

“That would be because she has designed multiple US cyber security defenses, including for the Department of Defense. We have top military officials that don’t want her knowledge to get in the wrong hands. Add in the factor that her young daughter was taken also? Makes for some really good leverage.” Lisa explained, showing the team a picture of Anna and Suzie.

“So, what we need to do is go rescue the two and get out of Dodge.” Seems simple enough, Sonny summed up.

“From what we have gathered, yes. The cyber-terrorist group has holed up in a warehouse, just north of Bangalore. After getting Indian government approval, we have had ISR on the warehouse location. We have both hostages being brought in, but have not exited.” Blackburn said.

“Do we have a layout of the warehouse?” Ray asked, looking for blueprints on the table.

“This was the original building plans that were given to the city. Whether or not it’s the same now? No idea.” Lisa passed over the copy of the blueprints.

The warehouse had two smaller man-doors, and one large rolling door at the front for deliveries. There was a second floor, but it appeared to be mainly office spaces.

“We got to assume that the hostages would be upstairs in the office spaces.” Clay said, looking over Ray’s shoulders.

“Willing to bet you, they split the mother and child. The lower floor is an open floor plan. Do you by chance know how much electricity this warehouse is using?” Jason asked, turning to Blackburn and Lisa.

“About 270 kilowatts a day.” Lisa replied, after looking at a report.

“That’s a lot of power for a warehouse in that kind of district.” Jason replied.

“The computer servers.” Clay spoke up. “The servers are on the warehouse floor, so the adult hostage will probably be down there with the computers. The daughter will be up in the office space.”

“Having your kid out of your sight in this type of situation? Wouldn’t need too big of a push for her to cooperate with them.” Ray concluded with shake of his head.

“Okay. We don’t know where Anna will be located, as we don’t know the set-up of the floor, but we do know where the kid will be. Four of us will enter in the front man-door. The breach will be a distraction, while two more will enter in the rear man-door. The two in the back will concentrate on getting up the stairs next to the door and get the child hostage.” Jason mapped out the plan with nods all around. “Ray and Brock will be coming in from the rear, the rest of us will be in the front.”

“Any sentries?” Ray asked.

“As far as ISR is showing, they have one each stationed at the man-doors. None were seen on the road leading to the warehouse.” Lisa replied.

“Easy peasy. We take out the guards, breach the building, smoke us some computer nerds, and rescue the hostages.” Sonny concluded, chewing on his toothpick.

“The CIA would like to get at least one of them alive.” Lisa gave Sonny the look.

“No promises.” Sonny smiled back at her.

“Alright, gentlemen. Go get some shut eye. We land in a few more hours before we roll on the location.” Blackburn stated.

As the men broke a part to find their hammocks, Trent glanced over at his silent youngest brother. It seemed that aside from nursing a sore head, he was still nursing a grudge and wasn’t talking unless it had to do with business. Trent smiled to himself as he leaned back into his hammock, making a mental note to keep an eye on the Kid.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The mission and aftermath

Bravo team were in place, just outside of the visual field of the sentries at the warehouse. Ray and Brock were in the rear, the other four were in the front waiting for Jason’s signal. ISR had showed only the sentries being rotated. No one else came in or out.

Ray carefully lined up his shot, radioing in, “Bravo 2 and 5 in position.”

“Copy that Bravo 2.” Jason replied, watching as Clay lined up his shot, targeting the sentry at the front.

When Clay nodded that he had his target in sites, Jason keyed his comms, “Execute. Execute.”

Two quiet shots rang out and the bodies fell to the ground. Both sets of teams quietly made their way to their appointed doors. Trying the door knobs, they were locked. Sonny started setting the breaching charge on the front door, Brock started setting the breaching charge on the rear door. Once everyone radioed that they were ready, both yelled,” Burning.”

The front group quickly entered the warehouse, and inside were about 15 servers with cables and wires running everywhere. Towards the back, there was an area with five computers set up, and one had their female hostage. When they breached, everyone’s head shot up in surprise. Anna Synder saw the military uniform and quickly ducked under the table, covering her head before the shooting started. There were about five tangos that quickly grabbed weapons, but Bravo was quicker, and killed four of them as they entered. The fifth saw that he was quickly out gunned, so he turned his weapon to Anna prepared to take their hostage’s life. Jason was quick to end his life, but the tango got off a shot right as Jason put a bullet between his eyes.

As Ray and Brock breached from the rear door, they saw their brothers clearing the warehouse floor and started up the stair. They met the first tango on the stairs, coming down to see what all the commotion was, and Ray quickly put a bullet in his center mass and continued. As they reached the top of the stairs, there were four doors, two on each side, with the doors closed. They cleared the first room on the right with no one in there. Looked like it might have been a kitchen or eating area. The cleared the first door on the left next, which had bunks and sleeping bags, so the dorm area for the tangos. The cleared the second room on the right which turned out to be the bathroom. 

They finally came to the last door on the left. The last possible place for the little girl to be. While Ray and Brock were clearing rooms, the warehouse floor had gotten quiet, no gunshots could be heard coming up from that floor. Ray and Brock flanked each side of the door and Cerb let out a low growl. Both looked down and then back up at the door. Brock carefully unhooked Cerb’s leash from his waist, and the dog hunched down ready to pounce. Ray grabbed hold of the door knob, ready to fling to door open and let Cerb at whoever was on that side. On the count of one, two, three, Ray turned the door knob and quickly threw the door open. Cerb was inside the room in a flash, snarling as she saw the last tango holding a gun to Suzie Snyder’s head. 

The tango didn’t even get a chance to get a shot off before Cerb had his arm holding the gun in her jaws, clamped down and shaking with all her might. The tango cried out in pain, dropped the handgun, and tried to yank Cerberus from his arm. Brock quickly subdued the tango, cuffing his hands behind his back and called Cerb off.

Ray quickly slung his rifle back and approached the terrified little girl, who quickly ran into the arms of the first friendly face that she had seen in two days. She sobbed and cried into Ray’s shoulder, while Ray picked her up and gently shushed her, rubbing her back to try to calm her down. He made eye-contact with Brock, who nodded his head that he had the situation under control, and then Ray exited the room and started to head down the stairs so that he would be able to reunite the little girl with her mother.

As he got down the stairs, he noticed that Trent and Clay were working on the mother, while Jason and Sonny were watching to make sure none of the tangos suddenly popped up.

Jason, upon seeing Ray come down from the stair, keyed his mic, “Havoc, we have Jackpot. Both hostages are alive. Adult hostage was wounded, so Bravo 4 is treating her now.”

“What do we have, Jason?” Ray asked, watching as Trent and Clay was helping her. With a squeal of “Mommy!”, Suzie launched herself out of Ray’s arms, latching on to her mother, who quickly wrapped her daughter in a hug, crying herself.

Jason pointed at Anna, “One of the tangos got off a shot right before we smoked him. It ricocheted off the steel post and hit her in the leg. Trent’s taking care of her. What’s the sit-rep upstairs?”

“We have a tango alive. He was holding a gun to the girl’s head. Cerb took a nice chunk out of him. Brock is wrapping him up to bring him in for Mandy, and will be down when he is cuffed.” Ray stated looking at the reunion between mother and daughter. “Thought I should bring the girl down.”

Jason smirked at his 2IC, “Good idea Bravo 2.”

Meanwhile Trent and Clay had been working on Anna, who was hugging her daughter close. She was in obvious pain, but tried to smile for her daughter. “Please Suzie. Mommy’s going to be okay. Don’t cry.”

“Ma’am?” Trent tried to get Anna’s attention. She was in obvious distress. “Ma’am? Are you hurt anywhere else?” He asked as he attempted to put a pressure bandage on her leg.

Anna, distractedly was trying to calm her daughter. “Suzie, it’s okay. Oooh!” The movement only served to aggravate her gunshot wound in her leg, causing more blood to ooze out.

Jason and Ray watched on as Sonny, kept an eye out for anything that might cause issues. At that time, Brock came thumping down the stairs with their tango cuffed still hollering in pain. This caused the little girl to curl into her mom even more.

“Bravo 1,” Came over the comms.

“Havoc, this is Bravo 1. Go ahead.” Jason replied.

“CIA is asking that if you can, pull any of the hard drives that you can.” Responded Blackburn over the comms.

Clay, Trent, Ray and Brock were the techies of the group. Clay and Trent were already busy handling their adult hostage, the little girl was beyond terrified, and they had a tango that they needed to corral. Jason and Ray exchanged a look, communicating without any words what each other was thinking.

“Sonny, guard the tango. Make sure he doesn’t go anywhere. Ray, get the girl to Brock and then grab the hard drives. Brock, try to keep her calm.” Jason ordered, and soon the men were following them.

Ray moved over the Suzie while Clay and Trent stayed with the mother, and Sonny took over for Brock guarding the tango. He put a hand on Suzie’s arm. “Hi sweetie, I’m Ray. We’re going to take good care of your mommy, okay?”

The little girl sobbed, nodding. Ray waved Brock over. “Suzie, have you ever petted a working dog before?” The little girl shook her head, her crying easing a bit. “Well, if you go with Brock here, he’ll even teach you all the tricks that Cerberus knows, won’t he?” suggested Ray, as he looked up at Brock.

Brock could see where his 2IC was trying to do. Anna was too worried about her daughter for Trent and Clay to work on her effectively. “Sure thing, Suzie, and I’ll bet Cerb will even let you feed her a treat,” he added, scooping the little girl in his arms, calling Cerb over to him and walking away from the tango.

Anna frowned up at them, “But…”

“They’ll be right over here, ma’am,” assured Ray, pointing to the area about 15 feet away, before turning to the servers and looking for the hard drives. Brock swung Suzie up on his shoulders as he walked away, Cerb on his heels.

Clay gave the woman a reassuring smile as he took her blood pressure. “Suzie’s going to be fine, Anna. We’ll take care of her. So just try to relax, okay?”

Anna settled back down on the pavement, her breathing coming in quick, ragged gasps.

Clay looked up at Trent, concerned. “Pulse is 150, BP is 185/100 and respiration is 26 and rapid.” Anna groaned in pain as Trent began checking her leg wound.

“Looks like the bullet hit her fibula, I feel bone fragments in the wound.” Trent replied, making sure that the gauze wasn’t being soaked through. At this point, she had lost a significant amount of blood, and they were worried about her going into shock.

“I’m going to start an IV of ringers to reduce the chance of shock and immobilize the leg so we don’t shift the fragments. We can use the EZ EVAC stretcher to get her out of here and back to the vans.” Trent explained, and Jason nodded his head in approval.

Clay, reaching for the IV bag to hand to Trent, looked over at him. “She’s in a lot of pain.”

“We can probably get away with 10 milligrams of morphine once we get the IV established.” Trent agreed.

Trent grabbed the IV kit from Clay, and then he reached over and started setting up the painkiller.

Anna opened her eyes suddenly, staring at the syringe in Trent’s hand. “I don’t want any of that.”

Clay quirked an eyebrow at her, “Ma’am?”

Anna, her breath coming in quick gasps, shook her head. “I’m a former pain med addict. I quit cold turkey when I found out I was pregnant. I can’t get addicted again.”

Trent hesitated, the syringe in hand, “Well, Anna, you need something. The pain is putting a lot of stress on your body and that can create complications.”

Anna again shook her head. “No. I refuse…”

Clay jumped in before she could finish, “I really think you do. Your leg has to be hurting pretty bad.”

Anna nodded, held up her left hand. “Just give me a second. I was so worried about Suzie that I haven’t had a chance to concentrate.” She rested her head back on the pavement, took a couple of deep breaths, closing her eyes.

Clay looked over at Trent, puzzled. The medic shrugged. He didn’t understand it either. Anna’s breathing suddenly slowed, became deep and even. Trent quickly checked her BP again. He frowned, and checked it again. He looked up at Clay. “Her BP is dropping.” He then checked her pulse, “And her pulse is now 110.” He was clearly confused by the sudden change in her vitals.

Anna opened her eyes, and smiled at Trent and Clay. She no longer seemed to be in pain. “Everything reading okay now?” she asked, and even her voice seemed stronger.

“Yeah, but how…?” Trent was a little confused on the turn of events.

Anna gave a quiet laugh, “It’s about controlling your body and not letting the pain control you.” She kept her breathing slow and deep as she spoke. “You can condition the mind to believe anything, you know. It’s all about mind over matter.”

Clay paused, looking at the IV bag in Trent’s hand. He looked from it to her. She shook her head, giving him a small smile. “I won’t be needing that either.”

Clay didn’t know what to do. He returned the IV bag to the pouch in Trent’s kit as Trent put a splint on her leg, talking to her quietly as he told her exactly what he was doing before he did it. He reached into Sonny’s ruck and pulled out the EZ EVAC stretcher from, and got to unrolling it so that they could carry her out. Once it was rolled out, he hesitated for a moment, lost in thought as he looked at Trent and the woman as they talked.

***

Clay stepped onto the C17 and found Sonny talking to Lisa by a stack of crates. Lisa gave him a welcoming smile.

“Hey, Clay. Sonny was telling me that everything will be okay with the hostage and her daughter.” Lisa stated.

“Yeah. She’s going to be fine,” he said. Trent had told the team that Anna went to the hospital next to the base and she would be having surgery on her leg before heading back to the States with her daughter. “She was lucky. This could have ended a lot worse.”

Lisa flipped shut the folder she had been working on, “I hear she’s a pretty amazing lady, controlling her pulse and blood pressure at will.”

“Yeah, very interesting,” Clay said vaguely as he reached into a cooler for a water bottle.

Sonny was more enthused on the subject. “It was amazing, Lisa. One minute, Trent says her vitals are sky-rocketing and the next, she takes a few breaths and she’s reading normal.”

“I’ve heard of a few stories about people that can control their bodies like that. Don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who actually could,” Lisa said with a smirk.

“I think it’s fascinating, don’t you, Clay?” Sonny asked, trying to get a rise out of him. 

Clay looked at Sonny and Lisa, and shrugged, not offering his opinion.

Sonny grinned at Clay, who for once, wasn’t jumping in with an opinion. His youngest brother was in only-child-sulk mode and he couldn’t help but tease him.

“You know,” Sonny continued easily, “She said that she even uses that technique when she goes to the dentist. Doesn’t need to have any of the numbing done because she hypnotizes herself not to feel the pain.”

That got Clay’s attention. “Fuck that. It must be some magic or parlor trick of some sort. That’s the only explanation it could be.”

“I understand that you could have used a little of that technique at Ray’s house,” Lisa said with a small smile as she pointed to his head.

Clay gave Sonny a dirty look as he set his water bottle down. “You had to tell Lisa?!”

Lisa laughed. “Come on, Trent looked at that hard head of yours and said you were okay.”

Clay made a face at Sonny. “I’ve been assured that I’ll live.” He moved away from the stack of crates, skirting around Sonny, heading towards the back of the plane. 

Lisa was surprised, and watched him walk away. She turned to Sonny. “He seems a little out of sorts lately, doesn’t he?”

“From what I pieced together; he had a run-in with his father before the BBQ at Ray’s. Wanted him to read his latest manuscript again.” Sonny reached into the cooler for his own bottle of water. “I’ve been trying to distract him, but it just may take time for him to work it out.” he admitted.

“Oh,” Lisa raised an eyebrow at him. Usually, Sonny would take Clay out to a bar, give him a few shots, and all was right. This was different.

Sonny gave her a sheepish look. “Haven’t had a chance to take him out yet.”

“Uh huh,” Lisa smiled. “Well, don’t be too hard on him, Texas.”

“Sure,” grinned Sonny, as he headed towards the back of the plane. “I’ll have to try a little harder!”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What is bugging Clay?

Ray, Trent, Sonny and Brock were sitting in their cages as Clay strolled in two days later.

“Morning,” he called, as he put his key in the lock and opened the cage door.

Ray looked up from the book he was reading, checking to see if Clay had gotten out of his cranky mood. Sonny got the chance to take him out, and hopefully got him out of his snit. “Morning,” he replied.

Clay started moving a few bags and equipment in his cage.

“Hey, Clay,” Trent looked at him curiously. He and the other guys had noticed how moody he had gotten while on their last OP. “You’re in a good mood this morning.”

Clay looked over at him, “No mission to go on. Only going to run drills. What’s not to be in a good mood about?”

“Right,” Brock said, turning to face him. “So, what’s her name?”

Sonny jumped in, “You know we are gonna find out eventually, so you might as well save us all the trouble and tell us what’s going on.”

“Detective Quinn, on the case,” smirked Clay as he leaned against his cage doorway. “Grow up.”

“Kinda like the pot calling the kettle black, huh?” observed Brock. He did get a good one in now and again. Ray and Trent started laughing.

“Oh, that’s real swell,” Sonny glared at his brother.

Clay frowned briefly at Ray. He leaned over to check out the title of the book Ray was reading.

“Mind Power?” Clay looked up from the book to Ray. “Uh, something you wanna tell us, brother?”

Ray paused a moment, closing the book. “I was telling Naima about Anna Snyder. Naima found the whole thing kind of interesting and we don’t even use a tenth of brain’s abilities…”

“Well, just look at Sonny here…” Began Clay.

Sonny shot him a look, “Thin ice, Poster Boy,” he warned.

Ray continued, “This book is all about how we can maximize our brain’s potential.”

Jason, who had just entered the cage area while Ray was talking, looked at his team and grinned, “Sounds like something some of you should be reading up on.” He gestured to Ray, “So, what kind of things are they talking about?”

“Okay,” Ray flipped open the book, searching for something. “Here. It says that you can learn to do what Anna did, control your body’s reaction to pain and stress. It also says you can increase your memory so that you can recall anything you want, almost like having a photographic memory.”

“Some things I’d rather forget,” Clay muttered, but only Sonny heard him.

“You know,” Brock jumped in. “I saw this blurb on the internet the other day. It was all about how some people can move things with their minds, and read other people’s thoughts. What was it called?”

“ESP.” Clay supplied.

“That’s it.” Brock turned to the other members of Bravo, “It was really cool. They set up an experiment where they had some people in one place reading the thoughts of these other people that were on the other side of the country.”

“It’s all smoke and mirrors, Brock.” Clay shook his head at him.

“Come on, Clay.” Trent jumped in. “There’s has to be something to it. People have been talking about this stuff for centuries!”

“According to this book,” Ray added, “Everyone has the ability but few of us develop it.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Clay groaned. “Please tell me that we aren’t going to be going on about this all day?”

Ray gave Clay a brief glance, his eyes unreadable. “You’ve got a problem with that?”

“Come on guys, don’t start flaking on me now.” Clay almost pleaded with the team.

“Well, brother,” Ray started, “How is this any different from believing in God?”

The other guys looked from one to the other, puzzled by the undercurrent between Ray and Clay. Jason watched the team dynamics closely.

Clay abruptly went to his cage, grabbed the gear he needed for today’s exercise, and exited the cages, heading to the field where the training exercise was located.

Jason looked at Sonny. “What’s up with him?”

Sonny shrugged. “Thought it was about his Dad, the usual bullshit, but a night out drinking didn’t fix it.”

“Yeah,” Trent said, clearly perplexed. “This would be something right up our resident encyclopedia’s alley.”

Sonny got up and joined everyone huddled around Ray. He had a gleam in his eyes. “So, anybody up for a little fun with him?”

“After the drill Sonny, after the drill.” Jason said, but he had a smirk on his face so you knew he was down for the prank too.

***

Clay and Trent were teamed together for this training exercise. This exercise just felt like a glorified version of capture the flag, but they were evading the Green Team guys. They had the location of the flag, but could only rely on their compass to get them there. Finally, after climbing out of a ditch, both could see the royal blue of the flag hanging from a tree on top of a hill.

Trent was in the lead as they headed up the loose gravel on the hillside, smiling at Clay, “Almost there. Hopefully we will beat everyone else.”

Clay grinned back, but something caught his eye. “Trent, do you see what I see in that tree?”

Trent glanced up. “That looks like a beehive.

Clay stopped. “A bee hive?”

“Yeah, you know, one that probably has honey.” Trent mentioned as he continued up the hill.

Clay gave Trent’s back a worried look. “How are we going to get the flag out of the tree?

“Same way as the Green Team guy that put it in there.” Trent explained. “You don’t have to worry about bees. Just keep calm, no sudden movements, and you’ll be okay. Bees sense fear, and they’re more afraid of you than you are of them.”

Clay fiddled with his strap on his ruck. “I sincerely doubt that.”

Trent was already halfway up the hill. He couldn’t resist calling over his shoulder, “Mind over matter, Clay. Just tell yourself that they’re not going to sting you.”

“Right,” muttered Clay, following his brother. “And who’s going to tell the bees that?”

***

Blackburn stepped out of the pop-up canopy that was being used as “base” for the training exercise. He smiled at the two of Bravo team that got done with the exercise first.

“Davis, want to radio the other two teams and tell them they’re slacking?” he said. Lisa smirked before picking up the radio and relaying the message.

“Feels good to come in first,” Trent stated from the chair he was sitting in, drinking from a water bottle.

“Yeah,” Blackburn said, plopping down in a chair next to him. “You two made excellent time. Normally Jason is first.”

Clay grinned, “But you paired Jason with Sonny. We all know how well Sonny likes to climb hills.”

Blackburn laughed. “Well, I heard you had a bit of excitement getting your flag.”

“Nope,” Clay dismissed it with a wave of his hand. “Everything went fine.”

Trent looked at him incredulously, “What? You were acting like we just told Sonny we would be swimming with sharks.”

“I wasn’t,” Clay fidgeted some. “I just didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks to complicate the mission.”

“Right,” Trent looked at Blackburn and Lisa, as she got off the radio. “You should have seen him.”

“Trent, I don’t think we need to bother Blackburn with a play-by-play,” Clay tried to distract, but failed.

“Nope, I want to hear this just like it would be in an After-Action Report.” Blackburn said with a grin.

Trent started again. “You got to picture this. The bees weren’t even anywhere near us and Clay here could hardly move…”

“Speaking of moving,” Clay shot his brother a murderous look. He grabbed his helmet and ruck and started to head over to the truck to load up. The other guys should be arriving soon.

Lisa watched Clay for a moment, then turned to give Trent a stern look.

“Can I help it if he’s so sensitive,” he said, giving her an innocent look. Grinning, he grabbed his equipment and started to head to the truck to store his own gear.

“What’s all that about?” inquired Blackburn.

“Just a bunch of boys picking on the youngest, who seems to be a little off for the past couple of days.” Lisa explained as she saw Ray and Brock with Cerb crest over the hill to come to base.

“Serious?” Blackburn, frowning slightly. This could affect how the team worked in the field.

“With Bravo?” Lisa snorted. “No. Everyone just needs to pull their heads out of their asses.”

“Aaah,” Blackburn grinned as he helped himself to a water bottle out of the cooler. He noticed a look on Lisa’s face. “What?”

“Oh,” she admitted reluctantly, “I guess I can’t help but feel a little sorry for Clay. He looked a bit like a kicked puppy.”

Blackburn laughed out loud. “He did, didn’t he? Well, don’t worry too much. Bravo always works their problems out.”

“Hmm,” Lisa sighed, now seeing Jason and Sonny cresting over the hill too. “Well, for all our sakes, I hope they do it soon.”

***

Clay and Trent, for being the first ones back, were the last ones to get done in the showers and head back to the cages. 

As they entered, Brock called their attention to the table in the center of the room. “Hey Clay, Trent, come check this out.”

Clay hesitated before following Trent to the table. Both men stopped abruptly, staring at the scene before them.

Trent figured it out immediately. He moved over to the table, a big smile on his face. Sonny and Ray were sitting across from each other, a large box between them, effectively blocking their view of the other. Ray had a stack of picture flash cards in front of him and was holding one of the cards in his hand. Brock and Jason were watching them.

“What…?” began Clay.

“Sssh,” cautioned Ray, holding up a hand. “Don’t break his concentration.” He stared at the card in his hand.

“Umm,” Sonny, eyes closed, rubbed his temples, deep in thought. “It’s… a circle.”

“Yep!” Ray said, holding up the card for the others to see. It had a picture of a circle on it.

Brock fist bumped Jason. “That’s the eighth one in a row he’s gotten right.”

“Eight out of ten,” added Jason.

“What?” demanded Clay in disbelief.

“Yeah, Poster Boy,” Sonny reached for the Mind Power book sitting beside him. “This book is amazing. It’s taught me how to tap into my brain’s potential.”

“You have to have a brain first ,” Clay retorted. “And second, be able to read.”

Trent sat down beside Ray. “Eight in a row, huh? That’s pretty good. Can you teach me?”

“Team leader is first.” Advised Jason as he settled into his chair, trying hard not to smile.

“Oh, come on, Jason. You’re not that gullible, are you?” blurted Clay.

“What was that Spenser?” Jason sat up, eyeing Clay. “You want to run hills?”

“Uh, sorry,” Clay tried, making placating gestures with his hands. “It’s just… it’s a trick, right?”

Ray stood up. “Here, Spenser, you pick a card, any card and he’ll tell you what it is.”

“No way. Forget it.” Clay said as he walked towards his cage.

“You afraid?” challenged Brock.

“No, I’m not afraid. It’s just stupid, that’s all.” Clay said as he unlocked his cage.

“Tell you what, Spenser,” Jason put his arms on the table, looking at Clay. “If Sonny doesn’t figure out the card you’re holding, the guys and I will take over cleaning your guns and take care of your gear for the next three ops. Okay with you guys?” he asked. The guys all nodded enthusiastically. “And if Sonny reads your mind and gets the card right, you have to clean all of your gear and guns from today’s exercises. What do you say?”

Clay eyed his brothers around him. It was the last thing he wanted to do, but he could see no way out without being razzed. “Alright. Fine. Here.” He sat down, shuffled the cards and grabbed one at random. “Okay, Sonny. Astound me,” he challenged. He waited a brief second before demanding, “Well?”

“Hey, I’m still learning this stuff,” Sonny explained, as he rubbed his forehead. “You need to concentrate to. Really stare at the card and think about what you’re seeing. That’s how I’ll read your mind.”

Clay shook his head. He couldn’t believe that he was doing this. As he stared at the card, he didn’t see the signal that Ray gave Sonny. Clay glanced up suspiciously at the Texan, but Sonny had already closed his eyes in apparent concentration. Clay tapped the card on the table. “Well?”

“Hmm,” Sonny was really laying it on thick. “You’re a little hard to read. Probably because your brain is stuff full of useless information.”

Clay made a face. “At least I have two brain cells to rub together, unlike some people.”

“Got it!” said Sonny triumphantly. He opened his eyes. “It’s a star.”

Clay’s jaw dropped as he held up the card. It had a start on it. “There must be a mirror somewhere.” Clay stated as he looked behind himself.

“Point to Sonny!” Brock clapped Sonny on the back.

“So, what do you have to say now, Clay?” Trent asked, egging his brother on.

Clay was checking the card to see if there were any marks on it that might have identified it. Nothing. He frowned at his fellow SEALs. “This is ridiculous. It’s a trick. I know it is, I just need to figure it out.”

Ray picked up the Mind Power book and tried to hand it over to him. “Here, maybe this’ll help you.”

Clay pushed the book away, shaking his head as he got up from the table. “Forget it. You guys don’t fool me.” He started into his cage area.

Suddenly, there was clanking on the table, so Clay turned back around and saw all the guys putting their gear and guns on the table. “Uh, Spenser, where are you going?” asked Jason. Clay looked at him. “I do believe there’s some equipment that needs to be cleaned.

Clay was about to argue but the look on his team leader’s face stopped him. He stomped into his cage to get his gun cleaning kit.

The rest of the team took their leave to head to the briefing room where they could sit down and have a beer. Once the door closed, they started laughing.

“Like taking candy from a baby,” smirked Sonny.

***

Cleaning equipment and guns is a very methodical job. Making sure that you get into every nook and crevice to get the dust and dirt out. Clay was glad of the job, as it gave him a chance to reflect. He ignored Jason’s suggestion of coming in and having a beer with the guys. He didn’t want to be around them, as it felt as if they have been teasing him more than usual.

He sighed as he set down the gun he had been cleaning. All of this started the night before the BBQ at Ray’s house. Big Country convinced him to come out with his graduating Green Team class to celebrate someone getting engaged. 

While having a few beers, who does he see stroll into the bar? Stella. He was about to set his beer down and go talk to her, see if their break from each other was over. Just as he was getting out of his chair, he sees her walk over to a guy that was sitting at the bar, slide an arm over his shoulder, and leaned down for a kiss.

He felt that the rug had been pulled out from under him. He knew that they were on a break, knew that it meant that they could see other people. What he wasn’t expecting was for her to be blatantly playing tonsil hockey and necking another guy in a bar that was frequented by the SEAL teams. He thought about calling Sonny, but he’s been secretive on his own lately with whoever the mystery woman is. Then to top it off, his dad caught him and wanted him to read his manuscript.

He kicked a helmet on the ground, watching it roll until it hit Ray’s cage. Maybe he just needed to get over Stella. Maybe he should just let the issues with his dad roll off him. But, both these people keep coming back into his to haunt him. How does he fix that?


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And the heart to heart.

“Ray, you and the guys need to grow up.” Naima said over the phone.

“But…” Ray started into the phone. He glanced up and saw a couple of the guys looking at him, so he turned his back so he couldn’t see them. He didn’t want them to hear what Naima was saying. He didn’t want to hear what Naima was saying. He had called to mull Clay’s moodiness over with her. She always seemed to help him find his perspective on things, but at the same time, she didn’t pull any punches.

“Clay is your friend and brother,” his wife continued. “So, he gets in moods and gets on your nerves sometimes. YOU get on my nerves at times, but that’s never stopped me from loving you.”

“Oh,” was the only thing Ray could reply into the phone.

“Honey, I hate to say it, but it sounds like five grown men are acting a bit like five-year-olds right now.” Naima kept giving her opinion. “As for why Clay’s in a mood, I heard from another SEAL wife that Clay went out to celebrate one of his Green Team buddy’s engagement. Apparently, Stella was at the bar with another man. Clay needs his brothers now more than ever. Don’t you think it’s time everyone kissed and made up?”

Ray nodded, a light bulb going off in his mind on why the youngest has been an absolute bear to be around. He realized that Naima wouldn’t be able to see his nod. “Yeah, you’re right. As always.”

The sound of her warm laughter floated up through the phone. “You just remember that, Ray Perry.”

Ray laughed with her. “I’ll see you as soon as the Op gets done. Give the kids a hug and kiss for me. I love you.”

“Love you too, sweetheart.” Naima replied, before hanging up.

Ray hung up the phone, putting it in his pocket. She was right. All the guys have been acting even more immature that they would normally act. ‘Must have been a full moon happening or something,’ he mused. 

He was about to go outside to talk with Clay, who was helping to load up one of the transport vehicles when Trent came in the back door of the warehouse that was their temporary base for the Op. 

They were called in Thailand because upper Brass had heard chatter that there was going to be a weapons deal going down, and the weapons were going to be going the ISIL fighters. They were called in to intercept the weapons and the individuals that were doing the selling. The Brass think that once the sellers are in custody, they should be able to break them and get where the sellers obtained the weapons.

They were going to head out to the concrete warehouse that was being used as the holding area for the weapons before they are shipped to Syria. According to intel, they were planning on moving the weapons in the early morning, so Bravo team had the rest of the afternoon before they were going to hit the warehouse at midnight.

“Well, he still won’t talk to me. I offered to help him finish loading up the van but he said he’d rather do it himself.” Trent looked a little worried. Maybe they had gone a little too far this time. “I even tried to explain how we did the card trick but he didn’t want to hear it. Said it didn’t matter.”

Jason frowned, “Maybe I better talk to him.”

“Don’t think it’ll do any good, Jace.” Trent raised his hands helplessly. “He said he just wants to be left alone until we roll for the Op.”

Jason sighed. He had enjoyed the joke as much as the next guy, but Clay hadn’t reacted the way he usually did to pranks. He looked over at Ray and Sonny. “What do you guys think?”

“Naima just let me know that before our BBQ, Clay saw Stella with another man.” Ray shared with the team.

Everyone collectively winced. Doing the mental math of Stella plus his Dad, yeah, that equals a very cranky and sulking Clay.

Sonny took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair. The guys had pulled stunts on Clay before, and now that he knew why, he felt horrible. “Jason, this is all my fault. I haven’t really been a good friend or brother lately. I’ll talk to him after we all had some sleep, but before the Op. Maybe he’ll feel like listening once he’s had some time to sleep on it.”

Jason nodded. “Okay. Just make sure that you get things back to normal before the Op.” He hadn’t realized before how much Clay’s input and personality affected the mood of the whole team. It was time for things to get back to normal.

***

Sonny tossed and turned in his bunk, his blankets tangling around him. Sighing, he turned over and glanced at Clay’s bunk. It was empty. Frowning, he sat up, grabbed his pants and slipped them on. Padding quietly past his sleeping brothers, he headed towards the area that acted like a kitchen. It was no more than a coffee pot, a small refrigerator and some snack foods, but it worked. 

Clay looked up from the raggedy couch that was there. He was reading as Sonny walked into the area.

“Hey,” Clay looked worried as he closed the book. “I didn’t wake ya, did I?”

“Uh, no.” Sonny went to the fridge to grab a bottle of water out. He looked over at his brother. “You okay?”

Clay nodded, rubbing his eyes. “I couldn’t sleep.”

“You’re not still made about the stunt we pulled today, are you?” Sonny asked, trying to gauge his reaction.

“No,” Clay shook his head dismissively. He added wryly, “I figured it out pretty quick while I was cleaning the equipment.”

Sonny sipped at his water as he walked over to sit in the chair across from the couch. “So, is something else bothering you?” He tried, leaving it open for Clay.

“No,” Clay said quickly, then paused for a moment before adding, “Well, yeah.” He looked uncomfortable. “I was just… thinking, I guess.”

“Oh,” Sonny put his bottle on the table carefully. “About what?”

Clay suddenly looked very young and unsure of himself. “Just trying to figure out where I went wrong? My dad is an asshole, and I thought Stella and I were working things out. I know I was being moody and cranky, but was there something I did that made the guys mad at me? It never bothered the team before.”

“It’s not you, Clay. It was us,” Sonny let out a deep breath. “I figure it was the full moon or something. I guess all of us have been acting a bit like assholes, huh?”

“A bit?” Clay gave him that arrogant smirk. “I thought I was supposed to be the asshole on the team.”

“Right. And I’m the ornery Texan.” Sonny replied.

“Well, yeah,” Clay looked at his puzzled. “That’s why we make such a great team.”

“We do make a good team. Can’t argue with you there.” Sonny sighed.

The two laughed together, slowly letting their guard down with each other again.

“So, we okay?” asked Sonny.

Clay gave Sonny a grin. “Hey, we’re the best duo in Bravo. Can’t let Jason and Ray beat us.”

“Right,” Sonny replied, and suddenly realized what the book in Clay’s lap was. “Mind Power?”

Clay looked sheepish. “Thought I’d check it out since all of you were so gung-ho on it. Figured it would give us something to talk or laugh about.”

“Well, I’ll tell you something,” Sonny grinned. “I just kept bringing it up because it bugged you.” He reached over and picked up the book. “Besides, I thought all of this mind over matter stuff is a little freaky.”

Clay nodded his head, “Yeah, the mind isn’t something you fool around with.”

Sonny gave him a puzzled look.

“I don’t know if I can explain it,” Clay leaned forward, his face serious. “You know in Liberia, a lot of the locals are from tribes, right?” Sonny nodded. “Well, a lot of these tribes have Shamans or something similar, and I’ve seen some pretty amazing things that defy explanation. You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” He fell silent, obviously thinking about those very things.

Sonny sat back in his chair, staring at Clay in surprise. They’d been friends and brothers for going on three years, knew each other as well as anybody could but sometimes, his brother still surprised him, made him think that maybe he didn’t really know him at all. There were parts of his brother’s life that he didn’t understand and probably never would. It made him sad for a moment.

He hesitated to interrupt his friend’s thoughts, “And…”

“And,” Clay looked over at him, seemingly startled by his voice. He took a moment to gather his thoughts. “When you think about it, Sonny, what we do every day, running through areas with terrorist firing RPGs at us, knowing instinctively when to zig instead of zag, that feeling you get when you know an Op is about to go to shit… how we suddenly get the strength to do something that normally you wouldn’t even attempt to do… don’t you think that what we’re doing is tapping into that part of our brain.”

“I never thought about it that way,” Sonny said thoughtfully. “But I still don’t see why you wouldn’t even want to talk about it.”

Because…” he hesitated, searching for the right words, “It probably won’t make any sense to you. Probably me just being superstitious, but I’m afraid that if I think too much about it, it’ll stop working,” Clay had never been so serious about anything in his life. “If I mess around with it, try to dissect it and figure it out, maybe I’ll fuck it up. And then what I find myself trying to reason things out in an Op instead of using my instinct and it cost someone their life, maybe even mine or any of my brothers.

Sonny could only stare at the younger man. Clay never ceased to surprise him. He rubbed a hand over his face. Now he really felt like a jackass about the way he and the team had been treating their brother, but before he could say anything, Blackburn came ripping through the sleeping area.

“Everyone up! They moved up the timeline. They are not moving the weapons at dawn like we thought, they are moving the weapons within the next two hours. You need to be jocked up in under 15. Let’s move!” Blackburn commanded Bravo team, so everyone was up and moving. No time to waste on small talk.

***

The warehouse was ablaze with lights, and Bravo could see multiple men moving crate around and one truck that most of the weapons were being loaded on it. Jason took stock of the situation, as their original plan was shot to shit before they could even implement it. There were four tangos out front with the crates. Two they could see on the inside, and that left only two more unaccounted for. They could be off site or inside the building.

Looking at the movement, Jason quickly came up with a plan. “Bravo 3 and 6, go to the north entrance and see if you can get in and pick off the ones inside. The rest of us will pick off the four outside, and see if any more come crawling out of the woodwork. Wait for us to start firing before breaching.”

“Copy, Boss.” Both men replied and they tightened the straps on their rucks and silently made their way around the building to the north entrance. 

Once they made it to the position, Sonny radioed over, “Bravo 3 and 6 in position.”

“Copy that,” Jason replied.

Soon after, Bravo 1 gave the order to start firing on the tangos on the outside. Once Sonny and Clay heard the gunfire, they breached the north entrance. What wasn’t on the intel package, was the north entrance led them into office spaced, not open warehouse like they thought.

“Which way?” asked Clay, flipping down his NODs to see in the dark corridor.

“That way,” Sonny decided, pointing to their left. “Bravo 1, we have office spaces back here. It’s going to take me and Bravo 6 a few minutes to clear them all.”

***

Adjusting his grip on his weapon, Clay followed his brother, as they began clearing the offices they were walking by. 

Jason looked at Ray in frustration. “Havoc, Bravo 3 and 6 have encountered office spaces when there was none of the original plans. Any other surprises?”

“Copy that, Bravo 1. As far as we know, there were no office spaces.” Blackburn replied over the comms.

“Jace!” Ray pointed at a tango that managed to get a hold of an RPG and was getting ready to fire on their location.

Jason quickly targeted the tango and put a bullet in center mass. Unfortunately, the tango had his finger on the trigger, and as he fell, twisted around and the RPG was launched into the warehouse where Sonny and Clay were located, hitting the building and exploding in a fireball.

Jason quickly keyed his comms, “Bravo 3. Bravo 6.”

A brief pause, the Sonny’s muffled voice came through, “Bravo 3.”

“Get out of there, now! RPG exploded, and we don’t know how that will react with the rest of the weapons.” Jason explained, while watching Trent and Brock taking down the tangos that were starting to exit the building. There were a lot more than just the four that were unaccounted for.

“Copy that, Boss.” Sonny replied.

Suddenly, there was an ear-splitting explosion. The force of the blast threw the men to the ground. Everyone quickly jumped back up, but now the whole warehouse was engulfed in flames.

Jason looked towards the north entrance, hoping to see Sonny and Clay coming around the corner. After a few moments, he keyed his comms. “Bravo 3! Bravos 6!”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When adrenaline takes over.

Clay and Sonny had become increasingly worried as they had ventured deeper into the warehouse looking for the unaccounted-for tangos. They could hear the fire fight raging in the front of the building, and paused beside one of the massive concrete pillars that dotted the storage area they were currently checking. 

“We better book it.” Clay said, feeling ill at ease with the situation.

Sonny pointed to the far side, “We only have two more offices to check.”

Clay nodded, adjusted the grip of his gun. They hadn’t started to move yet when an explosion at the front of the warehouse knocked both off their feet. They looked up and saw fire quickly spreading across any of the flammable materials in the warehouse and towards stacks of crated weapons.

They heard Jason on comms telling them of the RPG explosion and that they needed to get out of there.  
Sonny just had enough time to acknowledge the call as both turned and started to head back toward the door they came in.

Clay hadn’t gone more than a few feet when the room suddenly seemed to implode. He felt himself lifted in the air, weightless. He slammed against a pillar and everything went black for a moment, the breath knocked out of him. For a moment, silence. Then, with a deafening roar, sound returned – the snapping of the fire overhead, the ominous creaking of the building’s roof and walls. Flaming pieces of wood rained down of him. He tried to get up, but his legs slipped out from under him. He groaned, shaking his head. “Sonny? SONNY?”

He looked toward where his brother should have been. All he could see were slabs of cement heaped in a pile from the shattered pillar. Coughing, Clay forced himself to crawl over to the mess. The pillar looked like it had broken in several pieces, some quite large. Clay began searching around them frantically. “Sonny!”

“Blondie…” Sonny’s voice was so weak that Clay almost didn’t hear him. He quickly scrambled over to his brother.

Sonny had landed on his back, his damaged weapon lying beside him. He was semi-conscious, bleeding from several cuts on his face. A large piece of cement slab seemed to have him pinned.

Clay checked around the concrete slab. It seemed to be balancing across a couple of smaller pieces, and didn’t appear to by lying on his brother. He should be able to pull him out easily. Just then, Sonny started to move, moaning softly.

“Hey, take it easy, brother.” Clay spoke gently as Sonny opened his eyes, looking around.

Sonny brought a hand up to his face, and looked at the blood on his fingertips. “You okay?” he rasped.

Clay nodded. “Yeah. Let’s get you out of here, okay?”

“Sounds good to me,” Sonny’s coughed deeply from the smoke.

Clay reached under Sonny’s arms and tried pulling him.

“ARGH!” Sonny cried, his hands grasping the concrete.

Clay stopped pulling. “What?”

“This thing’s got my leg pinned.” Sonny explained.

“Alright,” Clay moved quickly around the slab. “I’m going to try lifting it. Do you think you can pull yourself out?”

“Yeah,” Sonny nodded, gritting his teeth at the pain. He reached behind him and grabbed onto a metal pipe jutting out of the wall.

Clay found a handhold on the concrete and tried lifting. The slab didn’t budge. Clay strained, using every ounce of his being. Nothing.

Sonny shook his head. “Forget it, Clay. You can’t lift it by yourself.”

Clay stopped, looking around for something to use as a lever. He frowned, thinking he heard Jason’s voice. “Do your comms still work?”

Sonny looked at his radio. “Yeah, somewhat,” he said.

Clay moved up beside him and quickly switched his and Sonny’s out. “Bravo 1, this is Bravo 6. Over.”

Jason’s relieved voice came over the comms. “Bravo 6, are you guys okay?”

“Bravo 1, Bravo 3 is trapped under a slab of concrete. I can’t budge it. Can you get in here with more man power?” Clay asked.

“As soon as we wrap up getting all the tangos taken care of, we’ll come in the back way. What’s your exact location?” Jason answered.

“Uh, we’re in a storage room in the east corner by one of the main pillars.” Clay replied confirming his location.

“We will be there as soon as possible, Bravo 6. Hang in there.” Jason replied, and looked to getting everything wrapped up so he could get his last two brothers out.

***

Behind him, Clay heard an ominous creak, and then the scariest sound of all, almost like the building was taking a deep breath. He didn’t know what it meant, but it couldn’t be good. He flung himself at Sonny, using his body as a shield, covering his brother just as another explosion rocked the building.

Debris, small tongues of flame dropped down on them. Clay didn’t feel any of it. His only thought was of helping his teammate, his friend, his brother. The two of them were coughing now. Clay looked up and was shocked to see how close the flames were.

Sonny saw them too. He looked at Clay. “Leave me. Get out.”

Clay shook his head. “No way. I go, you go.”

Sonny shook his head. “No. Not this time, Peter Pan. Go!”

The flames crept up along their right side. Clay moved over and furiously kicked away some of the burning pieces of wood. Sonny suddenly cried out. Clay turned and saw that the flames were trying to lick the sleeve of Sonny’s tactical shirt.

Clay didn’t even feel the flames licking at his legs as an adrenaline rush kicked in. He squatted down beside the slab of concrete, reaching out.

Sonny watched him, shaking his head. There was no way his brother was going to be able to move the slab. He wanted to tell him to leave again but he knew it wouldn’t do any good. He closed his eyes against the intense heat as the flames crept closer. His mind drifted to Davis and his sisters in Texas.

Suddenly, he felt the pressure on his legs ease, blinked open his eyes. Impossibly, the slab was hovering mere inches above him.

With the last remaining ounce of strength in him, Sonny desperately reached behind him and grasped at the pipe sticking out of the wall. Using it, he pulled himself out from under the concrete. The pain from the pressure being suddenly released was almost overwhelming. He felt rather than heard the woosh as the slab slammed back to the floor. ‘Clay,’ he worried, his last conscious thought.

***

Trent and Brock, cuffing any of the tangos that gave up, were waiting for the back-up that Blackburn called in, while Ray and Jason walked around to the back of the warehouse. As they rounded the corner, they saw flames reaching the north entrance. Deep in their minds, they were thinking that there was no way that Sonny and Clay could have survived the last explosion.

Ray squinted, looking at the doorway. “Over there, look!”

Jason turned to see what Ray was getting excited about. Clay was staggering through the doorway, Sonny on his back in a fireman’s lift. Jason and Ray ran to help them.

“Easy, Clay,” Jason reached up to help lower Sonny to the ground. He was unconscious, bloodied. “Trent, over here! Now!” he called. He glanced briefly at Clay. He looked to be in shock and had his share of cuts and bruises.

Clay started to speak, but was suddenly overcome with a fit of coughing.

Trent hurried over and started to work on Sonny, since he looked like the more seriously injured of the two while Jason tried to get a look at Clay.

“I’m okay,” Clay tried to push his team leader away. “Sonny was pinned under some concrete. His leg. He lost consciousness about 4 minutes ago.” He watched Trent cut away Sonny’s pant leg and blanched when he saw his battered leg.

“How’d you get him out?” asked Jason, watching him closely.

“Guess it wasn’t as heavy as I thought,” Clay said, distractedly. He closed his eyes briefly, feeling momentarily lightheaded.

“Clay, you know Trent will take good care of Sonny,” Jason’s voice was compassionate. “But we need to get you checked out too.”

“I’m okay,” he said stubbornly. Trent was taking Sonny’s vitals but for some reason Clay didn’t seem to be able to focus on him enough to hear what he was saying. He saw Trent’s lips moving, but no sound. He also saw Sonny start to move his head, coming to.

Jason looked over at him. “Clay, let us look at you.”

Clay stared at him. He was having a hard time understanding him too, it seemed. Jason frowned, “Hey, Clay?”

Ray reached out and put a hand on Clay’s shoulder. The youngest SEAL winced, tried to move away. Suddenly, everything began to spin and he started to fall. Ray and Jason were quick to grab him.

“Easy, Spense.” Jason reassured him as they eased him to the ground. “What is it?”

Clay tried to rub at his chest through his vest. “Hurts. Real bad.”

Ray was pulling at the Velcro on the vest and grabbed his EMT shears to cut Clay’s shirt, trying to get a look at his chest. Jason tried to keep his touch gentle as he palpated the area for any cracked ribs. Despite his precautions, Clay was moaning in pain. “Don’t feel anything broken, but looks like you ripped some muscles here.”

Trent yelled over for someone to get some vitals on Clay, and he can give him something for the pain.

Clay turned away from him, looked over at Sonny. His brother’s eyes were watching him. He gave him a thumb up sign. Clay sighed in relief and closed his eyes as he felt the familiar prick of a needle in his thigh.

***

Clay shifted uncomfortable in bed, tried to reach for the water on the bedside table but stopped, as his chest and back muscles protested. He sighed in frustration. He hated that he would be needing help to do things for the foreseeable future. Suddenly, a hand reached up and handed him the glass of water. He took it gingerly, resting it on his bed tray.

“Thanks, Sonny.”

His brother shrugged, turning the wheels of his wheelchair. “Well, I knew you weren’t going to be able to move it with your mind.”

“Oh, please,” Clay made a face, then couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face.

Sonny smiled back. He still couldn’t believe what his brother had managed to do in that warehouse and by tacit agreement they would not be talking about it. Sonny respected his brother’s feelings on the matter. Still… he looked away from his brother for a moment. It would always be there between them, a bond.

“Hey,” Jason walked into the room, closely followed by the rest of Bravo team and Lisa. “You’re both looking better than the last time we saw you.”

“I hope so,” smiled Sonny.

“So, what does the doctor say? How long are you guys looking to be laid up?” Jason asked, thinking of being down two brothers.

“Well, looks like we’re gonna be off for a while.” Clay said, feeling a bit guilty.

“Yeah, hope you don’t miss us too much,” Sonny teased.

“Oh, we’ll try to survive,” Ray said, smirking at the two.

“So, you two,” Lisa said, pulling a folded-up paper from behind her, “We were taking pictures for the AAR, and we found that slab of concrete that Sonny was pinned under.” She placed the picture on Sonny’s rolling table so all the guys good look at it.

“Oh yeah,” Clay was awkwardly picking up his water glass, trying not to wince as the muscles in his chest protested.

“Yeah,” Lisa said. “Couple of the support guys tried lifting it and they couldn’t even budge it. It’s got to weight at least a thousand pounds, they said. How the hell did you get Sonny out from under there?”

“Yeah, Clay,” Brock jumped in. “Did you do that mind power thing.”

Clay looked decidedly uncomfortable. “Um, adrenaline?”

“Oh, come on!” Trent looked at Sonny. “Do you know how he did it?”

Sonny settled back in his wheelchair. “Yeah,” he drawled. Clay looked at him. Sonny sent him a wink and looked back at the guys, “but I’ll never tell.”

Trent groaned, but still smirked, holding up a paper bag that he was carrying.

“So, I was reading a new way to help heal some torn muscles.” Trent started.

“Oh yeah?” Clay sat up eagerly, thinking he could speed up the healing process.

Sonny saw the gleam in Trent’s eyes, and sat back and smiled.

Trent grinned, opened the bag and pulled out a jar of honey.

“You’ve always like honey, Clay,” Trent opened the jar and moved over to Clay’s bed. “Come one, just a teaspoon a day.”

“Get away from me with that!” Clay pushed his bedside table tray towards the advancing SEAL.

Trent stopped, standing just out of his reach, taunting him with the honey. The others were laughing at their antics.

Sonny quietly chuckled along with the rest of the guys, and listened to the familiar sounds of the team bantering and bickering with each other. It sounded like things were back to normal. Jason caught his eye and smiled. Sonny smiled back.

Yeah, things were definitely back to normal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I learned from this experience that I hate writing slow burners. Will attempt to not do so in the future!


End file.
